PatternForge AI: Chart Pattern Signals - Extension User Guide

What Is PatternForge AI?

An optional AI layer (bring your own API key) adds a plain-language explanation on top of the quantitative call — it never overrides the direction, entry, stop, or target, all of which come from the replay engine.

Part 1 — What PatternForge AI Does

PatternForge AI is a browser extension that overlays a floating signal card on supported trading chart websites. It:

1. Detects the symbol and timeframe of the chart you're viewing.
2. Fetches historical price bars from a market-data source you set up.
3. Matches the current price shape against thousands of bars of history to find similar-looking moments in the past.
4. Replays a trade step-by-step on each matching historical moment (a stop at one unit of risk, a target at two units of risk) to see what actually happened next.
5. Displays a BUY / SELL / HOLD card with entry, stop-loss, take-profit, a confidence score, a similarity score, a historical win rate, and an expected outcome based on the replay.
6. Provides a full command center for reviewing past signals, an optional written explanation, a trade journal, a multi-symbol scanner, price alerts, a risk calculator, provider setup, and general settings.

It is analysis only — it never connects to a broker, never places orders, and never executes trades.

Related reading: Key Trader Pain Points & How to Solve Them · PatternForge AI vs Other Chrome Trading Extensions · Multi-Broker Chart Patterns vs TradingView-Only AI Overlays

Part 2 — First-Time Setup

Follow this order the first time — no setup is required to see the card work.

1. Install the extension from the browser's extension store.
2. On install you get a welcome notification and starting settings are saved privately on your device. Any key you later add is automatically kept apart from your everyday settings, so a saved key never sits in the same place as your regular preferences.
3. Open any supported chart (TradingView, FXCM, MT5 web, OANDA, IG, Binance, and others).
4. A floating card appears in the top-right corner of the chart.
5. Click the toolbar icon to open the popup, or use the "Open Command Center" button to open the full panel.

The first time you visit a site, the popup may show an "Enable on this site" button — click it to grant access if the page isn't already on the built-in list. The extension remembers that permission for that website from then on.

Part 3 — The Floating Signal Card (on the chart)

This is the main interface. It updates automatically every few seconds (the exact timing is adjustable, from 2 to 30 seconds).

3.1 Card Header

• Direction label — BUY, SELL, or HOLD. When there isn't enough matching history to fairly test either direction, the label may instead read NO SIGNAL.
• Symbol · Timeframe — for example EURUSD · H1. If the timeframe couldn't be read from the page, a small yellow question mark appears, meaning it's assuming an hourly chart.
• LIVE / SIM badge — LIVE means a real quote was fetched; SIM means only an estimated price was available.
• Lock icon — shown when the card is locked in place (press L to toggle).
• Countdown — time left until the current candle closes; turns amber in the final minute.
• Options button — opens the options and risk-limits panel.
• Minimize / Expand — collapses the card to just its header row, or restores it.

Related: Signals, Timeframes & How Long a Trade Lasts

3.2 Body — Trade Quality Strip

• Trade OK / CAUTION badge — green when trading conditions look acceptable and there's no news warning; red otherwise.
• Session label — for example Peak (London + New York), London, Asia, or Thin liquidity.
• News status — either News clear or a warning about an upcoming high-impact event.

3.3 Body — Daily Strip

• Today's result — running profit/loss for the day, measured in risk units (shown in green if positive).
• Trades left — how many more trades you're allowed today under your own limits.
• Open trades — how many trades are currently open in the journal.
• Session name and color.
• News status.
• Day stopped — shown once your daily loss limit has been reached.

Related: Daily Risk Gate (Overtrading Brake)

3.4 Body — Session Timeline

A 24-hour drawing showing when the Sydney, Tokyo, London, and New York markets are active, with a highlighted band for when London and New York overlap, and a moving marker showing the current time. The marker updates every second.

3.5 Body — Recent Price Line

A small line drawing of the last 40 closing prices, colored by direction (green for rising, red for falling, blue for HOLD). It comes from the same history the matching engine already looked at.

3.6 Body — Timeframe Agreement Bars

A small set of bars comparing the hourly, four-hour, and daily timeframes (plus whichever one the chart is on). Taller bars mean stronger confidence on that timeframe, and the color shows whether that timeframe currently leans BUY, SELL, or HOLD.

3.7 Body — "Why HOLD / No Trade" Box

When the direction is HOLD, this box explains why. There are two distinct reasons:

It also shows the sample size, the similarity threshold used, the expected outcome, and the confidence score.

Related: HOLD and NO SIGNAL · When Does HOLD or NO SIGNAL Change?

3.8 Body — Level Grid

Field	Meaning
Entry	The current live price.
Confidence	A blended score from 0–100%.
Stop-Loss	Shown in red.
Similarity	Average closeness of the matched historical moments to the current shape.
First Target (1 risk unit)	A first scale-out point, one risk unit away from entry.
Second Target	Two risk units away from entry, or whatever ratio is configured.
Take-Profit	The full take-profit level (usually the same as the second target).
Historical Win Rate	The share of matched historical moments where the target was reached before the stop.
Pair Score	An optional score describing how favorable current conditions are for research on this instrument.

3.9 Body — Position Size Line

Once you've saved a balance and a risk percentage in the position sizer, this line shows something like: 0.42 lots, risking 1% ($100), 18 pips.

3.10 Body — Historical Match List

Up to five past examples that matched the current pattern: the date, a similarity percentage, and the outcome. Below the list you'll see the sample size, the similarity threshold used, how many bars were involved, and which data source supplied the history.

3.11 Body — Action Row (top)

Button	Action
Command Center	Opens the full panel (reuses an already-open window if there is one).
Guide	Opens the online guide page.
Unlock Pro	Opens the purchase page.
Help	Opens the options panel.
Copy Latest	Copies the current signal as text.
Calculator List	Opens the Calculator List window (reuses an existing one if already open).

3.12 Body — Action Row (bottom)

Button	Action
Log	Opens a short pre-trade checklist, then adds the trade to your journal.
Plan	Copies a trade plan in whichever format you've chosen.
Size	Opens the position sizer.
Open	Opens the symbol on the trading platform (a plain link, nothing more).
Remarks	Shows a written summary of the setup, with no AI involved.
Tools	Opens the tools menu.
Chat	Opens the chat window, pre-loaded with the current signal.

3.13 Moving the Card

Click and drag the card anywhere except on a button or input box to move it. Its position is remembered for that page and restored the next time you visit. Lock it with L to stop it from moving by accident.

3.14 Keyboard Shortcuts (on the chart)

Key	Action
M	Minimize / expand.
C	Copy signal.
R	Remarks.
S	Share.
P	Position sizer.
L	Lock / unlock card.
A	Written analysis.
E	Economic calendar.
O	Strategy finder.
N	Order ticket & alert helper.
T	Market sessions.
D	Performance stats.
W	Watchlist scanner.
?	Help.
Esc	Close the top panel.
Ctrl+Shift+H	Toggle the overlay.
Ctrl+Shift+K	Copy signal.
Ctrl+Shift+X	Emergency pause.

Part 4 — The Toolbar Popup

The popup is a compact status window.

• Header — shows Active, Paused, or Ready.
• Quick stats — today's signal count, journal win rate, and open trades.
• Session strip — the current time and which markets are active.
• Current signal — the latest signal from the active chart, or a placeholder if there isn't one yet.
• Open Command Center — opens the full panel.
• Settings — opens the Command Center's Settings screen.
• Pause / Resume — stops or restarts signal generation everywhere.
• Journal — opens the Command Center's Journal screen.
• API Keys — opens the Command Center's provider setup screen.
• Pro banner (once unlocked) — shows your plan and license email.
• Footer links — Guide, Unlock Pro, Help, Copy Latest, Calculator List.

The popup also checks whether the extension has permission on the current site, and offers an "Enable on this site" button when it doesn't.

Part 5 — The Command Center

The Command Center is the full management screen, with a sidebar containing 8 sections.

5.1 Sidebar

• Emergency Pause button — pauses or resumes signal generation.
• Section list — Signals, Written Analysis, Journal, Scanner, Alerts, Risk Calculator, API Keys, Settings.
• Badges — counts for signals, journal entries, and alerts; a warning mark on API Keys when nothing is set up yet.
• Footer — connection status and the installed version number.

5.2 Signals Section

Lists every signal the extension has generated, newest first — with filters, an agreement meter, Win/Loss buttons, and a summary strip.

5.3 Written Analysis Section

Send the current signal to a language model provider you've configured for a second opinion, in plain written form.

Free plan allows 5 written analyses per day. Paid plans are unlimited.

5.4 Journal Section

Your trade record and performance overview — heat map, dashboard, export playbook, weekly report, breakdown by session/timeframe/symbol.

5.5 Scanner Section

Scan your watchlist for setups: minimum confidence, timeframe, and a Run Scan button that ranks results.

5.6 Alerts Section

Price alerts that trigger a browser notification. Free plan: 3 active alerts. Paid plans: unlimited.

5.7 Risk Calculator Section

A standalone position-size calculator: Account Balance, Risk Per Trade, Entry Price, Stop-Loss, Take-Profit, Pip/Point Value.

5.8 API Keys Section

The most important setup screen. Everything the extension fetches comes from a provider you enable here.

5.9 Settings Section

Pro plan status, trading profiles (Scalp/Day/Swing), signal settings, risk settings, notifications, chart overlay, appearance, workflow, accounts/tags, data & privacy, and keyboard shortcuts.

Feature	Free	Pro	Pro+
Signals stored	20	200	500
Accounts	1	50	100
Price alerts	3	Unlimited	Unlimited
Watchlist size	5	50	100
Written analyses per day	5	Unlimited	Unlimited
Trading profiles	No	Yes	Yes
Broker history sync	No	No	Yes

Part 6 — The Chat Window

Opened from the card's Chat button or the Tools menu. Uses the same key as Written Analysis and the same daily limit. Messages sent to the provider are trimmed to a reasonable length; the full conversation is still shown and saved on your side.

Part 7 — The Calculator List Window

Every calculator on the companion site, kept up to date automatically, with search, caching, and a small starter fallback list if the first sync fails.

Part 8 — The Tools Menu (on the chart)

Tool	Shortcut	What it does
Scan watchlist	W	Runs the full historical replay across your watchlist and ranks by expected outcome.
My performance	D	Expected outcome, drawdown, best sessions, and best symbols.
Strategy finder	O	Tests a range of settings to see which combination has worked best.
Economic calendar	E	This week's events, filterable by importance and by your symbol.
Market sessions	T	A live session clock.
Order ticket & alerts	N	Copy-paste ticket text and push to your notification channels.

Part 9 — Options & Risk Limits

Opened with ? or the options button on the card. Kept separate from your general settings so the Command Center's settings can never accidentally erase them: card opacity, hide-signals-under floor, stop-size range factor and minimum, daily risk limits (stop for the day, max open trades, max trades/day, news warning window), hard filters (max spread, thin-hours block, overlap-only), and trade-plan format.

Related: Prop-Firm Style Day (Process Only)

Part 10 — How Signals Are Produced

You don't configure this directly, but here's what every number on the card actually means.

1. Gather history — up to 5,000 bars from the first working data source for that kind of instrument, requiring at least 120 bars before continuing.
2. Describe the shape — the most recent 30-bar window, z-normalized so the shape can be compared fairly regardless of price level or scale.
3. Find matches — compare that shape against every earlier, non-overlapping window in the history.
4. Relax if needed — the similarity requirement is gradually loosened until at least 5 matches are found, and whichever level was used is reported on the card.
5. Replay each match — step forward bar by bar: a stop at one risk unit, a target at two risk units. A bar that could have hit both is counted as a loss, to stay conservative.
6. Decide the direction — every match is replayed as BUY and as SELL; whichever side came out ahead is used, or HOLD if neither did (or if there weren't at least 3 completed matches on both sides).
7. Work out confidence — a blend of average similarity (40%), win rate (40%), and match count (20%), reduced if the similarity requirement had to be loosened.
8. Work out the historical win rate — the share of completed matches that reached the target first; unresolved matches are left out of that percentage.
9. Classify recent candles — the last three bars checked against familiar candle shapes.

Related: How a Signal Is Built · Every Formula, With the Real Constants · Named Candlestick Formations

Part 11 — Finding the Symbol & Pinning It Manually

The extension tries, in order: (1) any symbol you've manually pinned for that website, (2) a dedicated method for well-known platforms, (3) a general-purpose search of the page. If all of that fails, the card shows a pin prompt — type the broker's own symbol, choose the timeframe, and click Pin & analyze.

Part 12 — The Journal & Automatic Trade Closing

Log a trade with the Log button; the background process checks open trades every minute and closes them when price reaches the stop or target, recording the outcome. The stop is checked first, then the target — if a single move could plausibly have touched both, the worse outcome is recorded.

Part 13 — Sharing a Setup

Press S or click Share. By default, the shared text does not include your direction or price levels — only the general product description, since publicly posting live entry/stop/target is effectively broadcasting a signal to others.

Part 14 — Data, Privacy & Security

• All keys, settings, signals, journal entries, and cached history are stored privately on your own device.
• Keeping keys separate: any key you paste in is moved into its own private storage, apart from your everyday settings, every time you save it. Your general settings never contain a saved key, even at rest.
• Network safety: every outgoing request requires a secure connection, enforces a timeout, retries safely a limited number of times, and caps how much data can come back at once.
• Safe display: anything shown on a page is cleaned first, removing embedded scripts and frames.
• Order protection: the extension actively blocks any outgoing request that looks like it's trying to place, modify, or cancel an order — even through a custom address.
• No company backend. Nothing is sent to the publisher's own servers.

Part 15 — How Position Sizing Works Per Instrument

Instrument	Standard Position Size	Smallest Price Step	Notes
Major currency pairs	100,000 units	0.0001	Standard currency lot.
Yen crosses	100,000 units	0.01	Yen pairs use a different step size.
Gold (XAUUSD)	100 ounces	0.01	Per standard lot.
Silver (XAGUSD)	5,000 ounces	0.001	Per standard lot.
US30 / NAS100 / SPX500 / GER30 / UK100	1 per point	1	Cash index contract.
Bitcoin (BTCUSD)	1 per unit	1	Crypto.
Ethereum (ETHUSD)	1 per unit	0.1	Crypto.

Currency conversion: if the needed exchange rate isn't available, the calculator says so rather than silently assuming a one-to-one rate.

Part 16 — Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
Card shows "No symbol detected"	Use the manual pin (type the symbol, choose the timeframe, click Pin).
"No market-data source enabled"	Open API Keys, add a key, and turn the provider on.
Wrong price / wrong instrument	The provider matched a different instrument. Clear the symbol memory in API Keys.
"No key found" for written analysis	Go to API Keys, paste a key, and save.
Signals stop updating	Check whether Pause is turned on.
Card disappeared	You may have muted that symbol. Clear the muted list in Options.
"Order blocked" message	The extension is read-only and refuses anything resembling an order, even through a custom address.

Part 17 — Quick Reference

1. Install, then open a chart.
2. Go to API Keys and add a data provider, or rely on the free option that needs no key.
3. The card appears with a BUY / SELL / HOLD call.
4. Press R for Remarks, P to size the position, then click Log to journal it.
5. Press D weekly to review your expected outcome and best sessions.
6. Press E before logging, to check for high-impact news.

Most useful keys: R (Remarks), P (Sizer), D (Stats), W (Scanner), ? (Options), Esc (close).